VISIT The Monkey Forest in Mindanao PHILIPPINES
KRAEFI-SUMILE Botanical & Zoological Garden is located in the Barangay of Sumile in Butuan City. It was about an hour ride out of the city.
It was around 10AM when we started our journey out of the city headed towards Sumile. We crossed the bridge over the Agusan River and took a right onto Mayor Democrito D. Plaza II Ave. From there, it was a super scenic ride with rice field after rice field, coconut tree forests and jungle. We climbed high into the mountain on mainly well paved roads passing through small villages.
When we came to the turn off to Sumile, we actually drove past a few hundred yards, so keep a lookout for a road on the right with a small sign with an arrow saying "This Way To Sumile".
The road up to Sumile was mainly a dirt road, so we took our time driving slow through the forest and small simple homes. Once we made it to the top, we were greeted with a small village with a basketball court and some sort of lookout tower. We asked a local where the monkeys were and they told us to go a little bit more, right before the church on the left hand side.
The road up was too steep for the bikes, so we ended up parking at the bottom of the hill and made our way up. At the top of the driveway there was a little booth and a gentleman by the name of Manong Marilindo Bantilio greeted us and asked us to sign two visitors logbooks. His family lives on the hill right around the area of the sanctuary.
At the time of our visit there was no entrance fee but we made a donation to support their project. You can buy bananas and treats for the monkeys at the booth as well.
The trail to the Monkey Forest, Botanical and Zoological site was pretty steep. I suggest rubber shoes as the trail was pretty slippery and muddy, but I'm sure flip flops would work too.
Once we made it to the top, a family of three monkeys greeted us! We were pretty lucky as the day was overcast as we were told that they don't like to come out if it's too hot.
We wandered around and only seeing three monkeys, we were a little disappointed, but after walking the compound looking at different plants and following short paths, we noticed a bunch of monkeys were starting to come out to the cottage in the middle of the field feeding on a big cassava root that was placed by the caretakers.
We ended up feeding them bananas and chips and they loved it! The monkeys can become a little aggressive so please be careful.
We hung out for about two hours interacting with the monkeys and exploring.
After spending time in Bali at the Ubud Monkey Forest, I thought I would have to go back there to see monkeys again, but I'm so glad we were able to find out about this hidden gem of a place here in Mindanao.
I did ask permission to film and upload to YouTube and the care taker was thrilled as they were really looking forward to more tourism. PLEASE MAKE A DONATION IF YOU VISIT.
Please follow the same rules as found at the Monkey Forest in Ubud, Bali Indonesia
In general, monkeys will not come to you if you do not bring bananas or any other food.
To respect the natural behavior of the monkeys and avoiding any accident (since monkeys are wild animal, not pets and their behavior is unpredictable), please don’t make any physical contact or feed the monkey extra food from outside of the park.
In order to conserve the monkeys and forests, we engage you to keep the forests, wildlife, and the environment in good manner.
GOOGLE MAP COORDINATES: https://goo.gl/maps/opxJEboNqZ4PVEfHA
When we came to the turn off to Sumile, we actually drove past a few hundred yards, so keep a lookout for a road on the right with a small sign with an arrow saying "This Way To Sumile".
The road up to Sumile was mainly a dirt road, so we took our time driving slow through the forest and small simple homes. Once we made it to the top, we were greeted with a small village with a basketball court and some sort of lookout tower. We asked a local where the monkeys were and they told us to go a little bit more, right before the church on the left hand side.
The road up was too steep for the bikes, so we ended up parking at the bottom of the hill and made our way up. At the top of the driveway there was a little booth and a gentleman by the name of Manong Marilindo Bantilio greeted us and asked us to sign two visitors logbooks. His family lives on the hill right around the area of the sanctuary.
At the time of our visit there was no entrance fee but we made a donation to support their project. You can buy bananas and treats for the monkeys at the booth as well.
The trail to the Monkey Forest, Botanical and Zoological site was pretty steep. I suggest rubber shoes as the trail was pretty slippery and muddy, but I'm sure flip flops would work too.
Once we made it to the top, a family of three monkeys greeted us! We were pretty lucky as the day was overcast as we were told that they don't like to come out if it's too hot.
We wandered around and only seeing three monkeys, we were a little disappointed, but after walking the compound looking at different plants and following short paths, we noticed a bunch of monkeys were starting to come out to the cottage in the middle of the field feeding on a big cassava root that was placed by the caretakers.
We ended up feeding them bananas and chips and they loved it! The monkeys can become a little aggressive so please be careful.
We hung out for about two hours interacting with the monkeys and exploring.
After spending time in Bali at the Ubud Monkey Forest, I thought I would have to go back there to see monkeys again, but I'm so glad we were able to find out about this hidden gem of a place here in Mindanao.
I did ask permission to film and upload to YouTube and the care taker was thrilled as they were really looking forward to more tourism. PLEASE MAKE A DONATION IF YOU VISIT.
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